In 1890, a rail handcart
moved down a ribbon of steel,
the Calgary and Edmonton Rail
line that was under
construction. Mr. David
Shannon, the section foreman,
looked around at the land as
he pumped his cart to the 6th
siding. He saw a sea of grass
to the east, and grass

quickly rising to dense
forests and the snow-capped
Rocky Mountains to the west.
He decided that this was the
place for his family to
settle. He claimed squatters'
rights, and then filed a $10
request for his quarter
section under the 1872
Dominion Lands Act. He was

the first to settle the land
by the 6th siding, named Olds
in 1891.
Irish-born railway man,
David Shannon immigrated to
Canada to construct the CPR
from Montréal to the Golden
Spike. His family claims many
firsts: his wife was the
first white woman, and his

daughter the first white baby
born, in the soon-to-be town
of Olds. Shannon became the
stationmaster and a
homesteader. He and his sons
later constructed homes in
Olds that still stand today.
We chronicle, from 1890
to 1914, the trickle and then
flood of homesteaders, job